[4,] Fourthly, The Lord frequently commands his people to love him: Deut. xi. 1, Ps. xxxi. 23, ' 0 love the Lord, all ye his saints!' And he has promised and engaged himself that his people shall love him : Deut. XXX. 6, ' The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul' But,
[5.] Fifthly, The Lord frequently commands his people to call upon him, and to pray unto him, Ps. 1. 15, 1 Thes. v. 17, &c. ; and he has promised and engaged himself to pour upon them a spirit of prayer : Zech. xii. 10, ' I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabi- tants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.' But,
[6.] Sixthly, The Lord frequently cotnmands hisp)eople to repent and to turn from their evil ivays, Hosea xiv. 1, Ezek. xiv. 6, xviii. 30, Acts xvii. 30, xxvi. 20 ; and he has promised and engaged himself that they shall repent and turn from their evil ways, Acts v. 30, xi. 18, 2 Tim. il 25, Isa. XXX. 22, Jer. xxiv. 7. But,
[7.] Seventhly, The Lord has commanded his people to obey him, and to tualk in his statutes, Jer. xxiv. 7; and he has promised and engaged himself that his people shall obey him and walk in his statutes : Ezek. xxxvi. 27, ' And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' So Ezek. xi. 19, 20 ; xxxvii. 23, 24. But,
[8.] Eighthly, The Lord commands his people to mourn for their sins, Isa. xxii. 12, Joel ii. 12, James iv. 10 ; and he has promised and engaged himself to give them a mourning frame : Zech. xii. 10, ' They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for an only son ;' Ezek. vii. 1 6, ' They shall be on the mountains as the doves of the valleys, all of them mourning every one for his iniquity.' But,
[9.] Ninthly, The Lord commands his people to grow in grace, 2 Peter iii. 18, &c. ; and he has promised and engaged himself that they shall grow in grace : Ps. xcii. 12-14, 'The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree ' (which is always green and flourishing) ; ' he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.' The cedar of all trees is most durable, and shoots up highest. ' Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God ; they shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing.' See Hosea xiv. 5-7 ; Mai. iv. 2, &c. But,
[10.] Tenthly, The Lord commands his people not to suffer sin to
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reign in them : Rom. vi. 1 2, ' Let not sin reign in your mortal body ;' and he has promised and engaged himself that sin shall not reign in them : Rom. vi. 14, ' Sin shall not have dominion over you ;' Jer. xxxiii. 8, ' And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity ;' Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 'Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness ; and from all your idols will I cleanse yoa ;' Micah vii. 19, ' He will subdue our iniquities.' But,
[11.] Eleventhly, He has commanded his peojjleto loathe their sins, and to loathe themselves for their sins : Ps. xcvii. 10, 'Ye that love the Lord hate evil ; Rom. xii. 9, ' Abhor that which is evil' And the Lord hath promised and engaged himself to give them such a frame of spirit : Ezek. xxxvi. 1 3, ' Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations ;' Ezek. vi. 9, 'And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a-whoring after their idols ; and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations ; Ezek. xx, 43, 'And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings wherein you have been defiled, and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed.* But,
[12.] Twelfthly and lastly, for enough is as good as a feast, God has commanded us to hold out, to ijersevere to the end, 1 Cor. xv. 58, Rev. ii. 10, Luke xviii. 1 ; and the Lord has promised and engaged himself that they shall persevere : Job xvii. 9, ' The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger ;' Isa. xL 31, ' They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.'
Thus you see by an induction of twelve particulars that whatever God requires of his people, he stands engaged by the covenant of grace to give to his people, to do for his people.
Now mark, the covenant of grace is confirmed to us in the surest and most glorious way that can be imagined, Gen. xvii. 7 ; Heb. xiii. 20 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 28 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. The covenant of grace is so strongly ratified that there can be no nulling of it. For,
[1.] First, It is confirmed to us hy his word. 'I will be your God, and you shall be my people,' Jer. xxxiii. 38. Now, ' all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us,' 2 Cor. i. 20 ; that is, they are stable and firm, as the Hebrew word signifies. They will eat their way over all Alps of opposition. In the new covenant God neither makes nor fulfils any promises of salvation but in Christ and by Christ.
[2.] Secondly, God hath ratified the covenant of grace hy his oath, Gen. xxii. 16, Heb. vi. 19. His promise is enough, but surely his oath must put all out of question. There is no room for unbelief now God hath sworn to it. Had there been a greater God, he would have sworn by him. But,
[3.] Thirdly, God hath ratified it hy the death of his Son, Gal. iii. 15, Heb. ix. 15, 16. A man's last will and testament, as soon as he is dead, ii in force, and cannot then be disannulled. The covenant of grace is
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a testamentary covenant, which, by the death of the testator, is so settled that there is no altering of it. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly, The covenant of grace is ratified by the seals which God hath annexed to it. What was sealed by the king's ring could not be altered, Esther viii. God hath set his seals to the covenant of grace, his broad seal in the sacraments, and his privy seal in the witness of his Spirit, and therefore it is sure, and cannot be reversed, &c.